


3:00 AM

by periwinklesummer



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Maybe some angst, Mutual Pining, for like two chapters, kinda inspired by Tsuki ga Kirei, short fic, title from finding hope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:14:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23898850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklesummer/pseuds/periwinklesummer
Summary: Winwin and Ten are childhood best friends who have been together all through primary school, junior and senior middle school but they're about to go to colleges in different cities miles apart. Only they realize they love each other the day before Winwin has to leave.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin/Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	1. Sunset Lover

It’s graduation day and the entire class of 2017 is seated inside the school gymnasium. Winwin is in the back row next to Ten, both of whom were late. Reason? They had decided to take an early morning walk before they had to head to school but then got so lost in talking that they had ended up an hour away from their homes. And yes, they walked back all the way home, changed into their uniforms and begged Winwin’s mom to drop them to school.

Ten was fiddling with his phone while the vice principal started her speech.

“Keep your phone in your pocket you’ll get caught.”

“Winwin, we are graduating. We can break the rules today.” Ten whispered back. Winwin sneaked a look at his phone to see exactly what he was doing.

Sensing his gaze, Ten hid his phone before Winwin could see much. Just that he was trying to buy a train ticket online. _Probably Tianjin,_ Winwin thought. They were going to start college soon and ticket prices would go up if you waited until the last minute to book them. Winwin made a mental note to book his train ticket as well or else he would end up being stuck in a car trip with his parents.

Winwin turned his attention back to the vice principal and shifted in his seat so that he was hiding Ten from the teachers on his side.

“Thank you.” Ten whispered and busied himself on his phone.

The school choir came on next and by that time a lot of people had started talking amongst themselves. Graduation day included a sort of farewell performance by the juniors but to be honest people only wanted to watch the girls dance. Every year they would choose a pop song and it drove the crowd wild. This year was no different.

As soon as the choir ended their song, some English song began to play on the speakers and the girls began their performance.

“Ooooh Fifth Harmony.” Ten said, finally looking up from his phone.

“Do you like them?” Winwin asked. He had heard of the band but never bothered to check out their songs.

“Some of their songs are okay.” Ten said. Like everyone else, Ten’s attention was now fixed on the girls dancing on stage. Winwin sighed internally. It was hopeless.

His feelings for Ten would always be one-sided.

Winwin forced himself to look away from Ten who seemed to be enjoying the performance. He was busy glaring holes into his hands when Ten spoke.

“Winwin, do you wanna dance?”

“Huh? Now?”

“Not now!” Ten giggled. “Afterwards when they ask the graduating class if someone wants to perform, will you dance with me?”

Winwin’s brain decided to ignore the entire context. Did not even think for a moment that he was agreeing to dancing in front of his batchmates and teachers without any prior practice. All he could think of was that Ten was asking him to dance.

For Winwin, this was peak romance.

“Yeah, sure. What song?”

“You choose.”

“K-pop?”

“If Winwin wants to…” Ten said, teasingly. “Okay but only if it’s Red Velvet.”

Winwin grinned in reply. It was a sort of myth at their school. Whoever got to perform at their graduation ceremony, would stay together even after high school. Of course, Ten knew of this as well. Was that why he had suggested they dance? Even if Ten wanted them to stay together as friends, Winwin was happy.

A few more teachers said their speeches and then the award ceremony started. There were so many categories lately because teachers wanted everyone to feel included. Both Ten and Winwin ended up getting called on stage; Ten for ‘Excellence in Academics’ and Winwin for ‘Best in Arts’.

The graduation ceremony was almost over. The vice principal was back on the podium wishing the students luck for their ‘future endeavours’. Next would be her choosing the person who gets to perform.

“Shit we’re so far at the back she wouldn’t even see us.” Ten said as everyone in front of them started raising their hands. Some of them even stood up. Winwin and Ten both stood up on their chairs but the vice principal chose someone from the first row. It was a group of four friends who went up to sing _tian mi mi_.

A lot of people sang along with them and once it was over, everyone started taking photos. This was one day of the school year we were allowed to use our phones because this was quite literally the last day we would be here. We had all our results, all our documents and once you move away for college you only ever come back during the new year holidays.

A lot of their classmates came up to take photos with Winwin and Ten. Some of the junior girls who were in the dance group earlier came up to the two and even gave them flowers. Winwin got a red rose too. They went around talking to the teachers and soon the hall began to empty.

They took a group photo with their class outside on the grounds and after that the teary farewells started. When their class president started going around hugging and bawling into everyone’s shirt, Ten nudged Winwin and gestured to the school building.

“Let’s go up to the terrace.”

“Hahhh? Terrace?” Winwin said but Ten had already started walking towards the staircase. “We’re not allowed.”

“What are they gonna do? Expel us?” Ten laughed and Winwin had no choice but to follow. “You already have a spotless school record, Win, breaking one rule on the last day won’t hurt you.”

“Okay, okay.” Winwin gave up. It’s not like he could say no to Ten anyway. “Wanna get ice cream on the way home?”

“Yes please.” Ten said. They had reached the terrace and Ten pushed open the door. “Wow I imagined it would be prettier.”

“Not everything is how they show in animes, Ten.” Winwin said. Old and broken desks and chairs lay scattered next to water tanks and an array of pipes. The two carefully made their way to the edge, looking down at the crowd of students that were still gathered despite the ceremony having ended hours ago.

The sun was setting and the two just silently took in the scene as the sky turned from orange to darker shades of blue.

“We should still do our dance.” Winwin said, suddenly as Ten gave him a surprised look. “What if it’s not in the hall. It counts if you do it on graduation day.”

Winwin thought Cupid had struck him with his arrow when he saw Ten’s face break out into a smile and eyes turn to crescents. Ten took his phone out of his pocket and played a song. Winwin remembered Ten had showed him the choreography but he couldn’t recall at that moment so he simply followed Ten.

Dancing with him in that moment was probably the best part of his school life. He would never forget the image of Ten laughing as he twirled around to the beats of the song and the evening sky grew darker and darker. He looked so beautiful that Winwin could do nothing but stand and watch.

Ten grabbed his hands urging him to dance along but his touch jolted Winwin out of his daze and he finally spoke out loud the words that had been going through his mind.

“I like you, Ten.”

And with those words, Winwin had seemingly flipped a switch in Ten. His smile turned into a surprised ‘O’ and he pulled his hands away from Winwin. The song continued to play only no one was dancing.

“Wh-why now?” Ten muttered. He took a step back.

Winwin had been calm until then but now he was seriously second-guessing his confession. Maybe he shouldn’t have dumped it on Ten out of nowhere. Should he add ‘as a friend?’ to his statement? But the damage was done.

Ten was looking at him with so much hurt and confusion that it broke Winwin’ heart into pieces. Pieces that did not have the courage to listen to Ten’s rejection.

“I am sorry, Winwin. I don’t…” Ten took in a deep breath before continuing. “I don’t think it’s going to work out.”

And with that he turned away and ran.

\------

- _Flashback-_

It was the first day of primary school and five-year-old Winwin knew no one in his class other than the homeroom teacher. She was a friend of his mother and that was mainly the reason why Winwin’s parents had decided to send him to this school. He was seated on the third bench while the teacher told them to write down the alphabets in their notebook, while he wondered who he would play with during lunch. He couldn’t play with the Mrs. Xu, right?

Winwin continued his work, struggling with some letters but managed to get to S before he forgot what came after.

He started reciting in his head from the start but could not get past S for some reason. Maybe it was only up to S? He confidently put his pencil down when the boy sitting in the row next to him whispered.

“It’s T.”

Winwin looked to his right to see a boy with short black hair and a pretty smile looking at his notebook.

“My mom said T is after S.”

Winwin nodded as he remembered that there were more letters after S.

“Thank you.” Winwin said back. “I always forget T.”

“My name is Ten. My mom said it starts with T so I only remember up to that.”

“I am Winwin.”

“Pretty.” Ten smiled again. “Do you know what’s after T?”

Winwin did not but now he knew whom to play with during lunch.

\------

- _Flashback-_

Winwin and Ten had miraculously always been in the same class all through primary school, junior and senior middle school. They lived two streets away from each other so for the last twelve years they had gone to school together every day, whether it was either of their moms driving them or the two waking up earlier so they could walk.

So even though Winwin was applying to a dance academy after school, he hadn’t realized they would be in separate colleges, let alone different cities until they had to fill out their college preference forms.

It was one month before gaokao and they were done with most of their syllabus. It was just revision and practice exams going on in school and all that was left was to apply for the colleges of their choice.

The two were in Winwin’s room sitting on the floor with a folding table between them, both busy with their forms.

Winwin had already sent his audition clip to Beijing Dance Academy and was waiting to hear back from them. He only needed to take gaokao as a formality. He filled in his second choice to Shanghai Theatre Academy and third was another school in Beijing. All of his dance instructors had told him that with his current credentials it wouldn’t be too hard for him to get in so he wasn’t overly worried.

He sneaked a peek at Ten’s form expecting to see Beijing at the top of the list as well.

“Why aren’t you applying to Peking or Tsinghua?” Winwin asked, picking up Ten’s form. _Tianjin University._

“It’s too far. I want to stay closer to home.” Ten shrugged. He waited for Winwin to give the form back to him. “I thought of Beijing but I’m not confident if I will get in.”

“Your mock test scores are pretty good though.” Winwin said. “Also, Beijing is not that far either. It’s two hours if you take the bullet.”

“Beijing is too expensive, Win.” Ten sighed. It looked like he had had the same discussion with himself way too many times. “Tianjin is close and there’s a good scholarship.”

“But-”

“And the engineering department is good.” Ten said, as he took back the form seeing that Winwin had no signs of giving it. “I have thought this through, okay? My second and third are Beijing though so don’t worry.”

 _But we won’t be together._ Winwin did not say that out loud. He knew Ten would take up a science subject but he had been hoping they’d be in the same University and share the campus and room space at least.

“Right. Tianjin has a good chemistry faculty too.” Winwin mumbled.

“We’ll see each other during holidays.” Ten said. “I’ll come visit you in Beijing sometimes too.”

“Really?”

“Of course! Just tell me whenever you have performances, I’ll come straightaway.”

Winwin knew he wasn’t lying. Ever since they had become friends Ten had not missed a single one of his dance competitions. He was always there cheering in the audience. Always waiting backstage after the show with flowers. Always took him to eat ice cream the day after.

But that always was now going to change.

Ten will be far from him in a different city.

And it seemed like Winwin was the only one heart broken over this.


	2. Love Gun

Winwin did not see Ten at all after graduation day. They were supposed to get ice cream together but Ten had run too fast for Winwin to say anything or take back anything he had said. He considered texting Ten but given that he had just told his best friend of twelve years that he liked him out of the blue, maybe he should just give him some space.

It had been five days since then and everyday Winwin considered going over to Ten’s house to watch a movie or call him over to play with the neighbour’s cat. Their friends made a lot of plans to hang out but as soon as Ten said no, Winwin didn’t feel like joining either.

All he did was stay at home, spend time with his parents and then shop for the stuff he would need at college. Everything had piled up into a messy heap in his room, from clothes to snacks to the electric kettle his mom had bought him.

Winwin was to leave for Beijing on Saturday and he still hadn’t started packing. He wondered when Ten was going to leave but he was too scared to ask. He really wanted to meet him before going but what was he going to say? What do you say to someone after you have been rejected? Act casually like it was no big deal? He didn’t want Ten to feel awkward.

Winwin looked at the time. It was seven in the evening and he was going to leave for Beijing at 11am tomorrow. There was no time for him to go out to see Ten and then make time to pack as well. He forced himself to get up and picked up the sheet on which his mom had written down all that he needed to put in his case in alphabetical order.

His mom had left him two suitcases and his school bag and said he could call him if he needed help. When Winwin had told his parents that he would go to college by train and that they don’t need to drop him, his dad had been a little miffed.

“Then do all of your stuff on your own.” He had then told his mom. “Don’t help him pack or make his lunch either he is all grown up now.”

He knew the lunch thing was a joke since the train ride was barely two hours and he could just buy something instead. But no one was going to help him pack and he did not want to ask his mom. He opened his cupboard and began pulling out the clothes he wanted to take. That in itself was a huge task. He had to leave some at home and he could not possibly take all of them with him but it was too difficult to choose. He had almost dumped his entire wardrobe on his bed.

Just as he was about to give up and call his mom, he heard the doorbell ring and a moment later his mom called out.

“Winwin, come out! Ten is here.”

Winwin’s heart sank. Ten? Came to see him? Had he texted him or something? He picked up his phone but there were no notifications. He threw his phone on his bed and rushed to open the door of his bedroom to see Ten standing right in front of him.

“Your mom told me to go in.” He muttered.

Winwin took a moment to look at him. Even though it had only been five days it felt like he was seeing Ten after months. Obviously, he was still the same but he seemed a little nervous.

“Yeah, come in.” Winwin stepped aside to let him into the room but one look inside and he panicked. All of his stuff was strewn on his bed and the chair. “Sorry there’s no place to sit.”

He went over to the clothes and was about to push it all aside when Ten picked up one of his t-shirts and began folding.

“I’ll help you pack.” He opened the first suitcase and placed it neatly. “You haven’t even started yet!”

“I was just going to.”

“I’ll fold them and you keep them inside, okay?” Winwin nodded and sat down on the floor, opening the other suitcase as well. “Are you taking them all?”

“No, I just couldn’t decide.”

Ten did not say much after that. Just kept on handing over folded clothes to Winwin who tried to arrange them so he could fit a lot. After a while Winwin took out his phone and put on some music to break the silence. He could see a faint smile on Ten’s face but he wasn’t sure if he could take it a cue to make conversation.

“Do you want this too?” Ten spoke suddenly, holding up a blue t-shirt. He wouldn’t call it a couple tee but Ten had the same design in purple and they had worn it together a lot of times before.

“Oh? No don’t pack it.” Winwin said and immediately saw a frown take over Ten’s face. “I meant- I was going to wear it tomorrow.”

Ten just nodded and kept it on the chair and continued looking through the clothes and soon started handing over the snacks.

“You bought a lot.” Ten said.

“I told Mom I’d buy them in Beijing but she just kept on adding to the cart.” Winwin said. “You can eat something if you want.”

“I’ll take some chupa chups then.” Ten grinned and sat down on the bed now that it had cleared up considerably. Winwin finally let out a sigh of relief. He hadn’t realized until then how tensed he had been but seeing Ten smile made him feel a lot better. It was always this smile that made his mind to mouth filter stop working.

“Ten, can we talk?”

He nodded again, putting down the packet. “Yeah, yeah. I did come here to talk.”

Oh? Winwin had thought he’d just come to say goodbye or something.

“Should I go first or you?”

Ten hesitated before speaking. “I wanted to give you an answer for what you said on Sunday.”

Winwin remembered him saying that it wasn’t going to work out. Did he come here to repeat that?

“Okay.”

“I’m sorry I ran away that day and then ghosted you for the last five days too.”

“It’s okay I didn’t text you either.”

Ten smiled again. “I still feel bad about it. I was just.. a little scared.”

“Scared?”

“Didn’t we waste too much time, Winwin?” He had no clue what Ten was talking about. So, he just let him continue. “We’ve been friends for twelve years and we took literally the last week before college to do this.”

“Huh?”

“Technically just you. I haven’t even said anything yet.” Ten took in a deep breath. “I like you too, Winwin, as more than just a friend. I told you I was scared because you’re going to Beijing and I’m going to Tianjin and I know it’s only an hour away but we’ll be so busy I didn’t want to keep you in a relationship if I couldn’t give you all of my time but I don’t think I can let you go either. These last five days were just- so boring. All I did was think about you and I’m stupid I left it off like I was rejecting you but I just don’t know how this will work.”

Winwin got up and walked over to where Ten was sitting. “Why did you do all this thinking on your own?” He grabbed his face so he was looking at him, all cute with his cheeks squished up.

“I thought you hated me!” Ten cried out.

“Ten, I said I like you how did you draw that conclusion?”

“But you- ah forget it.” Ten just pulled Winwin into a hug. “I’m sorry okay? Let’s sit and think together.”

Winwin’s face was so red that he took a moment to respond. “Yes, let me get a pen and paper.”

“Pen and- what!” Ten laughed but Winwin wasn’t joking. He sat down at his desk and opened the last page of his Math notebook.

“The distance between Tianjin and Beijing is a little over 114 kilometers.” Ten walked over to look at what he was writing. He had made two dots labelled T and W and drawn a line between them writing _114km_ over it.

“Make a heart too.” Ten giggled and Winwin complied. “How long do you think it will take by bullet?”

“An hour and a half!” Winwin said. “Don’t look at me like that I searched it up. On Friday the bullet leaves at 7:30PM from Beijing so I’ll be in Tianjin by 9?”

“And will you not have practice after class you dumbo?” Ten snatched the pen from him and cut off the 7:30 that Winwin had written down. “What time does the bullet leave from Tianjin?”

“5pm.”

“Cool. My class hours get over at 4. This is perfect!”

“You’ll come straight from class?” That earned a bag hug from Ten.

“Anything for you.”

Winwin grabbed his hands and looked up at him. “Are you still scared now?”

“A little.”

“Don’t worry so much. We’ll be fine. Also, I wanted to ask you-”

“What is it?”

“Can I take you out on a date?”

Ten let out a surprised sound. “Now?”

“Yes. I can’t do much right now but an ice cream date?” Winwin asked. “How will I tell people that I have a boyfriend but I haven’t even gone on a date with him?”

“Boyfriend?” Ten gave him his trademark mischievous grin. “I am your boyfriend already?”

“Hah what else? You said you liked me back!”

“But did I agree to date you?” Ten said, sticking out his tongue.

“Oh.” Winwin grew serious. “Sorry, I’ll do it properly. Should I get down on my knee or something? Oh no I should have got you flo-”

“Winwin!” Ten grabbed his hand. “Will you be my boyfriend?”

“Y-yes!” Winwin nodded immediately, making Ten smile at him again.

“Let’s go then! The stores will close soon.”

Winwin told his mom he was going out for a while and both of them ran down to the nearest convenience store. Ten waited outside while Winwin went in to buy ice cream for them. The guy working behind the cashier threw him a dirty look as it was almost time for closing.

“I’ll take 2 minutes.” Winwin promised and ran to the frozen products.

Ten always alternated between strawberry and chocolate chip and as far as Winwin remembered he had chocolate last time so it was the former's turn. He came out of the store to see Ten sitting down at the sidewalk and Winwin plopped down next to him.

"Thank you." Ten said and after that the two ate in silence. Winwin had left a lot of space between them but even so their hands brushed against each other every so often.

"When do you start college?" Winwin finally remembered to ask.

"I have registration on Wednesday so I'll leave super early in the morning."

“Do you have any plans until then?” Winwin asked. “Some of the guys said they were gonna hit the beach on Sunday.”

“Actually…” Ten muttered and then stopped. Winwin turned to look at him and he continued. “I thought I’d drop you off or something.”

“To the station? It’s too early you- oh wait! You mean Beijing?”

Ten nodded, tucking his hair behind his ear as Winwin’s eyes followed the motion. “I kinda got tickets last week but I didn’t know if you would want me to come.”

“Last week? Oh, during graduation?” Winwin couldn’t help but smirk a little. He had thought Ten was booking his ticket to Tianjin. “Wow, Ten you’re more romantic than I thought.”

“Ah, don’t tease me.” Ten frowned. “I just wanted to hang out and see if your dorms were okay or-.”

Winwin didn’t know what came over him but he leaned over, closing the gap between them and kissed Ten’s lips very lightly. He pulled away unsure of how Ten would react.

“Sorry, you’re too cute.” Winwin said. His face was still only centimetres away from Ten. He could very easily kiss him again, but he held back. Ten was avoiding looking at him though and his face was completely red. Winwin knew he probably wasn’t any better. “Also, you can come to Beijing. The luggage was too much for me to carry alone anyway.”

“Luggage that you still haven’t finished packing by the way.”

Winwin groaned.

“Want me to come help?”

“No, I can finish on my own. Let’s go I’ll drop you home.”

The two chatted on the way back but even though Winwin wanted to hold his hand, he did not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry if it feels kinda rushed. i wanted to add 2 more scenes but they'll have to wait until the next one lol. anyway please leave comments if you like ^^


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